Metal strip uncoiler



June 26, 1951 w. R. MEREDITH METAL STRIP UNCOILER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledJune 17, 1947 mm. Q

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www -11. I., :I+/ v WILLIAM R. MEREDITH June 26, 1951 w. R. MEREDITHMETAL STRIP UNCOILERv 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 17, 1947 gmac/nto@WILLIAM R. MEREDITH Patented June 26, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEMETAL STRIP NUOILER William R. Meredith, Youngstown, Ohio ApplicationJune 17, 1947,Se'rial No. '755,268

4 Claims. .1

This invention relates to the .art of uncoiling metal strip and moreparticularly to an improved machine for rotatably holding a coil ofstrip during the uncoiling thereof. It is now common practice to requirethe delivery of strip from -a coil at la high rate of speed in supplyingstrip to a working or processing line as a pickl-ing line or a rollingmill, for example, and in order to effect such delivery in a dependablemanner it has heretofore been proposed to hold the coil tightly aboutits inner periphery by means of expanding chucks and by making provisionfor the controlled rotation of the chucks about the center axis of thecoil. In this manner the coil may be rotated at a high rate of speedwhile the strip is being drawn cfr it and, additionally, the use ofsuitable braking means made possible by the tight holding of the coilenables back tension to be effected in the strip and preventsoverrunning of the coil with respect to the strip being payed off aswill be understood.

The various types of expansible and rotatable chucks now proposed forthe above indicated purpose yare limited in their extent of expansion sothat such apparatus is now quite difficult to construct and is limitedto use only on coils having an internal diameter lying within 'a fairlynarrow range. It is accordingly the primary ob. ject of the presentinvention to provide an improved rotatable expansible chuck for metalstrip uncoiling apparatus which is of materially sirnplied and improveddesign and which nevertheless is operative to handle metal strip coilsof widely varying internal diameter.

A further object of the invention is the provision in a metal stripuncoiling apparatus having a pair of expansible and rotatable .chucksfor engaging the opposite ends of a coil of strip of an improvedarrangement for moving the chucks inwardly into engagement with the endsof the coil and of an improved arrangement for synchronizing themovement of the two respective chucks whereby the strip will always becentered along a predetermined payoff` path relative of variation in theaxial length of the coil of strip being handled.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an improvedrotatable and expansible chuck for a metal strip uncoiling machinewherein the expanding forces are exerted hydraulically and wherein suchforces may readily be continued to be exerted during the uncoiling of acoil of stripso that the coil may continue to be rigidly held duringsubstantially the entire extent of the uncoiling operation.

`2 A -still further object of the invention is the provision of animproved rotatable and power- -operated expansible chuck for a metalstrip uncoiling machine wherein novel and improved means is provided tosynchronize the outward and inward movement of the respective seg-Imental sections of the chuck, such means bein-g also operative to drawthe respective segmental sections of the chuck radially inward uponinterruption of the chuck expanding power means.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent upon consideration of the following detailed specification andthe accompanying drawing wherein there i's disclosed a preferredembodiment of the invention.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a metal strip uncoiler constructed inaccordance with the principles of the invention;

Figure 2 `is an enlarged front elevation of one of the chucks of theassembly of Figure l;

Figure 3 is a 'vertical section through the Achuck rof Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a top view of the chuck of Figure 2, the view being takenalong the line IV-IV of Figure 2 but with a cover plate removed; and,

Figures 5 and 6 are fragmentary sectional views taken along the linesV-V of Fig-ure 2 and VI-VI of Figure 1, respectively. y

The assembly of Figure 1 comprises a base lil mounting a pair of alignedguideways II and I2 in which are slideably mounted the supportingpedestals I3 and I4, respectively, which are oriented to have slidingmovement toward and away from each other. Journaled in each of thesupporting pedestals I3 and Il! is a shaft I5 carrying at its inner enda hub structure IS which in turn carries a chuck structure which willnow be 'described in detail.

Referring more particularly to Figure 3 of the drawing it will be notedthat the hub it has a iiat inner face II with a centrally projecting nibI8 and a cylindrical shoulder I9 on its opposite face which terminatesat its inner edge at a flat annular surface 20. Formed in the body ofthe hub I6 are three equally circumferentially spaced and radiallyinwardly directed cylindrical bores 2| in each of which is received aram-type of piston 22 having suitable packing 23. Projecting through theshaft I5 is a fluid-conducting bore 24 which at its end in the hub I6 isin communication with the spaces in the cylinders 2I.

Overlying the face Il and rigidly secured thereto by suitable Imeans isa heavily flanged circular disc 25 having three circumferentially spacedand radially extending guideways 26 which project inwardly fromsubstantially the outer periphery of the disc 25. Slideably mounted ineach of the guideways 26 is a chuck segment having an elongated centralportion 21 carried in the guideway, an integral inwardly disposed footportion 28 overlying the radially outward end of the adjacent piston 22,and an integral axially outward disposed leg 29 having a chamfered edge30 and an arcuate peripheral contour as shown more clearly in Figure 2.

In order that the parts will be properly aligned when assembled the disc25 is formed with a centrally disposed bore or recess to receive the nibI8 of the hub I6 and to enable the chuck segments 2'I--29 to beassembled in the disc 25 the guideways 26 are initially open at theirradially outward ends thus enabling the segments to be slid radiallyinward from outside the periphery of the disc 25. To close ofi theradially outward ends of the slot-like guideways after the chucksegments are installed and to thus make continuous the cylindrical outersurface of the flange on the disc 25, I provide recesses :al in theouter periphery of the ilange of the disc 25 to receive covei` plates 32which serve the purpose outlined. As shown in Figure 2 the outersurfaces of the plates 32 are arcuately formed in general continuationof the cylindrical outer surface of the ilange on the disc 25.

It will be apparent that admission of fluid pressure to the bore 24 andconsequently to the inner ends of cylinders 2l will force the pistons 22radially outward and if the projections 29 of the chuck segments havebeen moved axially into the center opening oi a coil or strip theprojections 29 ,will be moved into tight engagement with the innerconvolution of the coil upon outward movement of the chuck segments ascaused by outward movement of the pistons 22. Since it is desirablehowever to rotate the coil of strip about its geometrical axis and tomaintain such axis coincident with the axis of rotation of the shafts Iduring the uncoiling oi' the strip, I provide means herein tosynchronize the radially outward movement of the chuck segments so thatat all times each segment will be equidistantly spaced from the axis ofrotation of the shaft I5. This is accomplished by a correlating disc 33which is journaled on the shoulder I9 and which is formed with threecircumferentially spaced but spirally extending slots 34 to receive thecam-following rollers 35, one oi which is rotatably mounted on each ofthe chuck segments 2l. See Figure 5. By referring to Figure 2 it will beapparent that as the chuck segments 27 move outwardly the disc 33 willbe rotated in a clockwise direction with respect to the hub structureand since the slots 34 are each identical in plan and radial spacing andare angularly spaced 120 apart in exact coincidence with the angularspacing of the guideways 2t the chuck segments 2l will be closely heldto equal radial spacing with respect to the axis of rotation of theshaft i5. In Figure 2 the dot-dash outline of the upper slot 34represents the'relatlve position of this slot when the chuck segmentsare full radially outward. The disc 33 in addition to performing thequite important function of synchronizing the radial movement of thechuck segments is also conveniently utilized to draw the segmentsradially inward upon release of fluid pressure in the conduit or bore24. This is accomplished by providing the circumferentially disposedcoil springs 36 each of which has one of its ends connected to the disc33 as by means of a post 3l, for example, While its other end isconnected to a bracket 38 carried by the hub structure I6. As clearlyevident in Figure 2 the springs 36 tend to rotate the disc 33 in acounterclockwise direction, as Viewed in this figure, and it will beapparent that upon such movement of the disc the slots 34 acting throughthe cam followers 35 will move the chuck segments radially inward and indoing so will also move pistons 22 radially inward. Disc 33 is held inposition by a ring 39 which is bolted onto the face 20 of the hubstructure I6.

To move the two supporting pedestals I3 and I4 and consequently the tworotatable and expansible chucks toward and away from each other to loadonto the uncoiler a coil of strip of variable width I provide adouble-acting hydraulic cylinder 40 below each of the pedestals I3 andI4 and as indicated in Figure 1 these cylinders are preferably housed inthe base I0 and are aligned parallel with the direction of slidingmovement of the pedestals. The cylinders 4G have inwardly directedpiston rods 4I which are connected to the pedestals by means of bosses42 which are integral with or rigidly connected to the respectivepedestals I3 and I4 in depending relation therewith. Thus it will beapparent that upon the admission of fluid pressure to the left; end ofthe left cylinder 4I) the supporting pedestal I3 Will be moved to theright, while upon the admission of fluid pressure to the right end ofthe right cylinder 40 the pedestal I4 will be moved to the left. It ispreferable to equalize such inward movement of the two chucks so thatregardless of variations in the width of strip being uncoiled the coilwill pay off along a iixed predetermined path with reference to thelongitudinal central axis of the strip. I accomplish this object bymechanically interconnecting the two piston rods of the two cylinders sothat the piston rods will have equal inward or outward movement as thecase may be. Thus, coupled with the inner ends of the piston rods and ingeneral continuation of the axes thereof is a pair of rack gears 43which are laterally spaced and which are in common mesh with a piniongear 44 which is journaled for rotation about a xed Vertical axis in thebase III. Because of the interconnection through the gear 44 the tworacks 43 which are connected to the respective cylinders 4B must haveequal and opposite movement as will be understood and this of courserequires that the two chucks have equal inward or outward movement asthe case may be.

In accordance with usual practice I provide means in the lform of acradle 45 to raise a coil of strip deposited between the two chuckassemblies into an elevated position wherein its geometric axis isgenerally coincident with the axis of rotation of the chucks so thatupon inward movement of the chucks as caused by the application of uidpressure to the outer ends of the cylinders 40, the segments 29 of thechuck will readily enter in the ends of the opening through the coil..To raise and lower the cradle 45 I provide a vertically disposedcylinder 46. The cylinders 40 are double-acting, of course, so that therotatable chucks may be moved both inwardly and outwardly by the powermeans thus provided.

A dynamo-electric machine 41 supported on the pedestal I3 ismechanically coupled with the u shaft I5 journaled in this pedestal bymeans of reduction gearing 48, and the machine 41 may alternativelyserve either as a driving motor or as a dynamic brake, as desired. Keyedto the shaft l5 in the other supporting pedestal I4 is a brake drum 49having the usual brake band associated therewith having suitableelectrical or hydraulic operating means whereby the brake may beremotely controlled. To the outer end of each of the shafts l5 isswiveled a connecting block 59 which is operative to conduct fluidpressure from a stationary conduit, not shown, into the bore 47 of theassociated rotating shaft l5. By means of this construction I am able atall times to maintain elastic expansive forces on the chucks so that acoil of strip supported thereon will be tightly held during the entireuncoiling operation thereof. This feature is advantageous since thecoils tend to loosen during the uncoiling thereof and while the coilsmay be tightly gripped internally at the start of uncoiling thereof theymay become quite loose towards the end of the paying olf; and if thechuck segments are then held in their same radial positions, the coilbegins to slip and it is impossible to maintain proper back tension inthe strip. In the uncoiler construction of this invention the chucksegments exert a constant radially outward pressure on the innerconvolutions of the coils and thus tend to grip the coils tightly untilsubstantially the last convolution is reached in the uncoilingoperations. It should also be particularly observed that this outwardgripping force may be maintained and controlled quite independently ofthe driving or braking action of the electrical device 41 and of thebraking action of the brake 49.

It should now be apparent that I have provided improved uncoilingapparatus for metal strip which accomplishes the objects initially setout. While the apparatus for gripping and rotating the coils of strip isquite simple in construction, it is operative to maintain a tight gripon the coil during substantially the entire extent of the uncoilingthereof and, moreover, by providing the chuck segment mounted in theadjacent guideway whereby upon radial outward movement of said pistonssaid chuck segments will have corresponding radial outward movement, andconduit means extending through said shaft from the outer end thereof tosupply fluid under pressure to said cylindrical bores radially inward ofsaid pistons.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 further including a disc rotatablymounted on said hub for rotation about the axis thereof, a plurality ofspirally disposed slots in said disc, a cam follower mounted on each ofsaid segments and received in one -of said slots, the arrangement beingsuch that upon radial outward movement of said segments said disc isrotated in one direction relative to said hub, and spring meansinterconnecting said hub and disc and biasing said disc to rotationalmovement in the opposite direction relative to said hub to move saidsegments radially inward.

3. An expansible chuck for a metal strip uncoiler comprising a supportand a shaft journaled in said support, a hub on one end of said shafthaving a plurality of circumferentially spaced but radially inwardextending cylindrical bores, a face plate overlying and rigidly securedto the outer end of said hub and having radially extending guidewaysadjacent said bores, a ram-type of piston slideable in each of saidbores, a member slideable in each of said guideways and having at itsradially outward end an integral axially extending portion overlying theouter end of the piston in the adjacent bore and having an integralaxially extending portion at its radially inward end for entry into thecenter opening through a coil of strip, and an lopening extendingthrough said shaft and said hub to admit fluid pressure to the radiallyinward ends of said bores.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 further inv cluding a disc rotatablymounted on said hub on for a much greater degree of expansion thanheretofore provided in comparable devices, the range of usefulness ofthe apparatus is extended since coils of widely varying internaldiameter may be handled.

The above specifically described embodiment of the invention should beconsidered as illustrative only as obviously many changes may be madetherein without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention,Reference should therefore be had to the appended claims in determiningthe scope of the invention.

What I clairn is:

1. In a metal strip uncoiler the combination of a base, a supportslideably mounted on said base, a shaft having an outer end and an innerend journaled in said base, a hub on the inner end of said shaft andhaving a plurality of circumferentially spaced and radially outwardextending guideways each slideably mounting a radially disposed chucksegment having a foot portion projecting inwardly from the inner face ofsaid hub for entry endwise into a coil of strip, a plurality ofcircumferentially spaced but radially outward extending bores in saidhub each associated and aligned with one of said guideways, a ram-typeof piston in each of said cylindrical bores having a connection at itsouter end with the opposite sides of said bores from said face plate forrotation about the axis of rotation of said shaft and hub, said dischaving a cam follower associated with each of said members,

each of said members mounting a cam follower for co-action with theadjacent cam surface of said disc, said cam surfaces being so shaped asto cause rotation of said disc in one direction relative y to said hubupon the said admission of said fluid pressure and outward movement ofsaid members whereby said members will have equal outer increments ofmovement, and means to rotate said disc in the opposite directionrelative to said f. hub to move said members radially inward uponrelease of said fluid pressure.

WILLIAM R. MEREDITH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

` UNITED STATES PATENTS Number

